The Great Compartmentalizer
by TR-Fanfic
Summary: Set between Shifting Sands and Back in the Saddle. Harm and Mac have a chance meeting that changes everything.


This scene is in response to the HBX October challenge. I tried to think of something lighthearted, but no luck here. Harm and Mac meet in a bar during his stint with the CIA. I hope it's coherent, I rushed to get it down before I had to take my daughter to Karate. All mistakes are my own.

Thanks to can j, and Hope for the input.

The Great Compartmentalizer  
by TR

Mac smiled politely as she moved toward the bar.

The bartender smiled back. "What'll you have?"

"I'll..."

"She'll have a tonic with lime, no ice." A voice as familiar as her own cut in from a point close behind her.

Her heart stopped, accelerated to a gallop, and stopped again. Slowly she turned, and saw him standing there. It had been so long. She tried to give him what she hoped was a polite smile, set her purse on the bar, and misjudging the distance between her bottom and the bar stool, promptly threw herself down on the hard wood floor. Harm stepped forward and had her by the shoulders before she had a chance to catch herself. He held her until she was safely seated, and then hesitantly let go. Her skin was warm where he'd touched her, and she unconsciously raised her hand to cover the heat. To hold onto it. Keeping it where it was, lest it be the last time.

She waited for the smart remark. The friendly teasing comments that always came when she did something clumsy or foolish. But they never came. He simply sat next to her, and sipped something clear and on the rocks. He seemed cool and collected, and entirely unaffected by her. This, more than any hurtful word that had passed between them, broke her heart.

She swallowed a few drinks of tonic, wetting her throat. Buying time. "You don't seem surprised to see me here," she said.

"Nothing surprises me anymore."

She shifted in her seat. "How are you doing?"

He shrugged. "I'm alive."

"How's work?"

He gave her a sideways glance. "Okay I guess. It's work. I don't think much about it on my down time."

She smiled. "Ah yes, Harmon Rabb, the great compartmentalizer."

He turned to face her, and seeing no malice in her eyes, smiled back. "I guess. We're not going to have this conversation again are we? What was it you compared me to, a bilge pump?"

She shook her head. "Bilge switch. And you deserved it."

"Yeah, I did." He sighed. "That was a long time ago Mac. Too long. Who would have thought..."

"Thought?"

"...that eight years later I'd compartmentalize you right out of my life."

She reached out and touched his forearm. "Harm, you didn't compartmentalize me right out..."

She paused when he slowly he looked down to where she touched him. She withdrew, and tried to quell the growing lump in her throat.

"Didn't I?" He said. "I am after all the Great Compartmenatalizer. Oh no, you can't mix business with...talking. You have to stay focused, no matter how profound and life changing the moment may be." He shook his head. Scoffing at himself.

"Some people call that a good serviceman."

"And a bad husband." He replied.

"Husband? Harm..."

"It is what it is Mac." He cut in. "It's the way I am, and I've paid the price for it more times than I can count." He turned away, downed the rest of his drink, and pointed to the glass to signal for another.

"You know, you were unbelievably rude leaving like that without saying goodbye. If you had talked to me..."

"I was rude? I'm not the one who..."

"...if you had talked to me!" She continued. "You would have known that I don't have to be out of your life."

"You don't? Because I distinctly remember you standing at a taxi stand and saying..."

"Harm!" She stopped him before the conversation could get any further out of hand. She couldn't prevent the hope that rose inside her. His anger she could handle. If only because it meant that he still cared. She took a moment to collect her thoughts. "Do you remember the Wickham case?"

He rolled his eyes. "How could I forget. It was the worst case we ever did together."

"Yes it was. Do you remember when we'd been up 26 hours, sorting through papers, reading and rereading testimonies, staring at photo after photo trying..."

"...to find the magic bullet. Yeah, I remember."

"Do you remember what you said when we finally stopped to get something to eat?"

He eyed her, knowing where she wanted him to go. "I said, 'we're never going to win the case.'"

"But we did win that case."

"Only because we stumbled onto something buried underneath a pile of evidence, at the...26th hour."

She looked him in the eye. "But you said "never". Didn't you still want to win the case?"

"Of course I did. I just gave up."

"Why did you give up? Didn't you want to find the evidence anymore?"

His voice dropped. "I didn't think it would do us any good to keep looking. We'd tried hard enough. I thought it was a lost cause."

"But it wasn't was it?"

"No."

She held his eyes. "Do you understand...?"

He nodded. "I think so. Is that what you did? You just gave up?"

"Not because I didn't want to win. I just thought it was a..."

"...lost cause."

"Yes."

The bartender returned, and to Mac's surprise refilled Harm's drink from a pitcher of water.

Harm took a long pull from his glass, and let the new information sink in coating the perceptions he'd had for months.

"And now?" He asked. "What do you think now Mac?"

She sat tall. "I'm finished searching for evidence. I've just been waiting, and asking for an opportunity to present it to the court."

"Asking?"

"Harm, I've left 12 messages on your phone since you left."

He pursed his lips. "I've only heard a few of them. I'm sorry I..."

"...it's okay."

His mouth quirked. "So you've finished searching?"

"Yes, and I've found my magic bullet buried underneath...everything."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" He asked, taking a long drink from his glass.

"I love you."

He froze mid-swallow, and struggled not to choke.

She continued quickly. "I don't know if you're still interested, or if you ever really were. Though the way you are today makes think that maybe...MGHF!"

Somewhere amidst her prattle, he'd stopped choking and began kissing her. She laced her hands through his hair and held on for dear life.

When they separated she was whirling and breathless. "Come home Harm. Please. Come back to JAG. Back to me."

He nodded. "I'll come back to you, but not to JAG."

Her brow creased with emotion. "Why not?"

"Because we can't be in the same office if we're married."

"Married!"

"Not right away. We've got a lot of things to work through. But I'm done compartmentalizing. I won't choose between you and anything anymore. Especially work."

"Harm, I'm not asking you to choose. I never have."

"I know. This is a choice I'm making. I want to go back to the Navy. Just not the JAG office."

"You shouldn't have too much trouble. It seems that Sheffield isn't too happy with AJ for letting you resign. He had a project he wanted you to work on."

"How do you know this?" He asked.

"I keep my ears open. Especially if it's about you. You think the Agency will let you go very easily?"

"I don't care if they do or not, I'm done being their puppet. I quit before I came here."

She sighed in relief. "That's good, because I didn't want to have to call in any favors." When she saw him flinch, she touched his cheek. "He's no threat to you Harm."

"No?"

"No. Clay is engaged to an agency girl."

"Oh really?" He said in amusement. "Anyone I know?"

She raised an eyebrow. "As a matter of fact..."

"No!"

"Yep. Looks like my husband is engaged to your wife."

He shook his head. "This is too weird, even for us." He took her hand. "I'm sorry I've been so distant Mac."

"It's okay. I'm sure you'll think of a way to make it up to me."

He laughed. "I love you. How about that?"

"That's a good start." She replied, and leaned in for another kiss.

End of scene. Good? Bad? Snail Glaze? Let me know.


End file.
